Retrospective planning application for holiday home near Bath

A retrospective planning application has been lodged with Bath & North East Somerset Council for holiday accommodation on the outskirts of the city.

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It follows a visit by council enforcement officers to Park Farm at Colliers Lane in Newton St Loe, where a shipping container has been converted into a modern, cabin-style holiday let.

It is advertised on Booking.com as a “cosy holiday home”.

The enforcement team said the container is considered to be a building due to the nature of the conversion and the way it has been sited in a permanent location.

They also said there has been a change of use of the land and that the decking amounts to development.

A retrospective application has now been submitted by planning consultants on behalf of Allota Futureland Limited to change the use of agricultural land for stationing of the shipping container for holiday use, along with timber decking, a hot tub and balustrade.

The holiday let, which is green corrugated metal with floor-to-ceiling windows, is close to farm buildings and next to a track that leads to a public footpath.

The consultants’ report does not agree with the council’s interpretation that the shipping container is a building, arguing that it is closer to the technical definition of a caravan.

The report says the scheme is an appropriate and sustainable form of rural development and in line with national and local planning policies, particularly with respect to farm diversification, rural tourism and the exceptions for appropriate development within the Green Belt.

You can view the plans here. The deadline for comments is 21st July.